Snow blowers are a common tool used particularly in colder climates. There are many different designs, but few have automated swivelling discharge chutes. Most snow blowers have a crank that must be manually rotated to swivel the chute in the proper direction, making it difficult to operate the snow blower at the same time. Those that do have automated discharge chutes are driven by a separate electric motor, which also requires a battery and a greater magneto. These added parts adds considerable cost and complexity to the construction of the snow blower. Those that are driven by the engine are mechanically complex, expensive to build and demonstrate considerable wear on rapidly rotating parts. Typical automated snow chutes of these types are shown, for example, in the following patents from the United Kingdom, the United States of American and Canada:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,927 Mar. 7, 1994 SOSENKO; EP0372150 Jun. 13, 1990 HANYU; U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,629 May 9, 2000 PETERSON; U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,748 Oct. 18, 1983 WESTIMAYER
Although automated discharge chutes have been incorporated into higher-end snow blower designs, there has been a continuing need for a less costly and simpler solution.